What Yoga Pose Do These 4 Exercises Help Strengthen?
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Hey, strength-minded yogis! We have a fun movement puzzle for you.
If you look through the 4 exercises we've featured below, can you guess which yoga pose they would collectively strengthen and support?
#1: Tandem Stance Kettlebell Swap
This is a unique and effective stability/balance challenge that we love!
We place one foot directly in front of the other in a "tightrope" position. Then we pass a kettlebell (or dumbbell or other heavy object) back and forth between our hands.
The kettlebell serves as a perturbation that's attempting to pull us off balance. We have to harness our focus to resist those forces and maintain balance.
#2: Single-Leg Balance Swap
This stability challenge builds on the Tandem Stance Swap. Instead of having both feet on the floor, we lift one foot and attempt to keep it lifted as we pass the kettlebell (or other weight) back and forth.
Once again, the kettlebell is attempting to pull us off balance, and we have to resist that as we try to stay upright.
#3: Staff Pose to Tree Leg
Starting in staff pose, we lift one leg with control straight up off the floor. Hello, hip flexors! Then we bend that knee and place the foot on the opposite inner thigh (in a figure-four position). Finally, we reverse the movement and return to staff pose.
To increase the challenge, we can lift our hands off the floor while doing this movement.
#4: Forearm Side Plank w/ Leg Raises
This challenging exercise targets the the lateral hip muscles (the hip abductors) on both legs, as well as the obliques and shoulder on the bottom side.
To start, we lift up into forearm side plank. Then, keeping our movement within one plane, we lift and lower our top leg.
Pro tip: Watch the tendency to turn those top toes up toward the sky. Instead, keep them pointing straight out to the side (or even slightly down towards the floor).
Did you make your guess about which yoga pose these exercises collectively support and strengthen?
Let's see if your guess was correct! The yoga pose these exercises directly benefit is (drum roll, please)…
Tree Pose!
Was that what you had picked as well? If so, grrreat job! If not, here's an explanation for why these exercises naturally support tree pose:
Both the Tandem Stance Kettlebell Swap and the Single-Leg Balance Swap help improve our single-leg stability, which is a key element of tree pose (and all of our other single-leg balance poses in yoga!).
Staff Pose to Tree Leg cultivates both hip mobility and end-range strength, with a direct carryover to the range of motion used in the tree pose leg in our standing balance.
And Forearm Side Plank w/ Leg Raises works on our lateral hip strength. Our lateral hip muscles are key players when it comes to controlling our balance. They keep us upright in all of our single-leg balance yoga poses – including, of course, tree pose!
Interested in more geeky unpacking of yoga poses and the strength exercises that load, support, and oppose them?
Order our digital book, Strength Training for Yoga! In it, we describe the biomechanics of 18 foundational yoga asanas and contextualize strength training exercises based on their relationship with those asanas.
Our book also includes a full introduction to the foundations of strength training, plus an 8-week training program designed specifically for yogis.
We look forward to connecting with you through this resource!
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